


Worth Celebrating

by psiodyne (lhermite)



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, No P5R spoilers, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24514204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lhermite/pseuds/psiodyne
Summary: Goro and Akira ring in Goro's birthday out in the sticks with a bottle of booze, the stars, and each other. Goro guesses it could be worse.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 3
Kudos: 80





	Worth Celebrating

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY GORO... my love for you is so powerful that I broke my shamefully long streak of not writing just for you, babe.
> 
> All you really need to know here is that they're in Akira's hometown post-canon (the details don't matter just go with it) and sometimes in the middle of nowhere you've gotta make your own fun.

“I still don’t know why you insist on doing this.”

“Doing what? Stealing my parents’ liquor?” Akira lilts from where he is kneeling on the kitchen counter precariously, rifling through a cabinet high above his head.

Goro, self-appointed spotter for Akira’s little stunt, rolls his eyes and places a steadying hand on his boyfriend’s waist. “Don’t play dumb. You know what I mean. Doing… anything, in general, today.”

Akira whips his head around to look down at Goro, narrowly avoiding concussing himself on the cabinet door and grinning at the resulting sigh it earns him. “You know why. This is your first birthday we get to spend together!” He turns back to his treasure hunt and finally pulls out a bottle of something, passing it down.

Taking it and examining it briefly, Goro argues back, “You already got me _multiple_ gifts, despite my insistence that you not bother. Besides,” he mutters lowly, “it’s not exactly something to celebrate.” 

“Hey,” Akira glances back down with those soft eyes Goro simultaneously hates and loves. “We’ve been over this. It is _more_ than worth celebrating and I won’t hear otherwise, alright?” His voice loses its firmness as he continues, “And I mean... It’s not like there’s a whole hell of a lot we can do in this town anyway, so. Don’t even try to argue that taking some drinks down to the riverbed is ‘going overboard’ by any stretch of the imagination.”

“...Whatever.” Goro places the bottle he’s holding down on an adjacent counter. “Anyway, this sake looks expensive. Won’t your parents notice it missing?”

Akira closes the cabinet with a short laugh and turns to hop down from the counter. “Right, sure. Since they’re even home enough to have time to drink it themselves,” he gestures vaguely at the empty house around them. “It’s fine, promise. And if it’s not… any persecution I could face is worth it for you, sweetheart.”

Goro lightly shoves the fool winking obnoxiously at him and walks away, sake in hand. “I’m going to go drink this alone.”

“But babe!” Akira whines pathetically, trailing after him like a lost puppy.

“Okay, fine. Not alone. I’m taking Mona with me.”

“ _Baaaaabe!_ ”

They depart after saying goodbye to Mona instead of dragging him along against his will (he makes it crystal clear that he is uninterested in joining their little date, but begrudgingly reminds them to drink water nonetheless). Along the way, they stop at an outdated Asahi vending machine with no ID scanner and buy a couple cans of beers for good measure.

“How drunk are you planning to get?” Goro squints at the offending can in the hand that’s not currently holding Akira’s.

“Not particularly. Just, you know, gives us a little variety.”

“Sure, if piss water is what does it for you.”

Once they reach the riverbank Akira leads them to a spot on the side of a hill and they set up camp in the balmy evening heat.

After spreading out an old picnic blanket Akira unceremoniously flops down onto his back and pats the spot beside him. Goro makes a show of rolling his eyes before laying down next to him with a soft smile. 

“Why exactly are we laying down?”

“Well, if you’d stop staring dreamily into my eyes and actually-- _ow!_ \-- and actually look up, you’ll see why,” Akira answers in that smug tone he gets when he’s particularly proud of himself. 

Goro glances up and remembers that Oh Yeah, stars exist. And are actually _visible_ in the countryside. “Ah…” he breathes out, taking it in. Above them an expanse of night sky is dotted with twinkling white as far as the eye can see. It’s almost overwhelming for someone who’s never been far enough outside the city to witness such a thing until recently. “...I see. I was wondering why you insisted on waiting so late to leave.”

His boyfriend preens next to him. “I had to make sure it was dark enough so I could adequately wow you.” He squeezes Goro’s hand. “So? Are we wowed?”

He scoffs but squeezes Akira’s hand back in confirmation. “I must admit I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I suppose the planetarium pales in comparison to the real thing, hm?” 

“The country may not have much going for it, but it _does_ have this.” They lay in comfortable silence a while as they take in the beauty above them. Crickets chirp somewhere in the distance and a gentle breeze rustles the grass around their blanket. Even the rainy season was considerate enough to leave them be for tonight. It truly was the perfect summer evening. “...So. Not to ruin the mood, but I realize now that it may be difficult to actually drink while laying down like this.”

Goro snorts and sits up to properly look down at a sheepish Akira. “Smooth.” He ruffles a hand through messy curls and ignores the answering whine, turning to procure their spoils. “What’ll you have? Rubbing alcohol or diluted urine?”

“Dramatic.” Akira sits up as well and gestures to the latter. Goro tosses him a can and twists open the bottle of sake himself. 

“Cheers.” They clink their drinks together and Goro immediately knocks back what is decidedly more than a single shot with a poorly concealed grimace.

“Hey, hey, slow down,” Akira places a hand on his arm and rubs gently. “We’ve got time, okay? We’re not _actually_ trying to get smashed here. Remember, we have to get ourselves home later.”

“Look who’s talking. Who’s the one that brought along entirely more alcohol than we actually need? Anyway, maybe I want to, I don’t know. _Drink to forget_ or whatever.”

“Goro…” Akira frowns. 

“Oh, stop, I’m kidding. Don’t go getting all concerned on me now.” He smirks in response to Akira’s pout, but softens a bit when his boyfriend still looks unsatisfied. “Hey, I’m fine. I’ll slow down, okay? I’ll even, I don’t know, drink some water if it makes you happy.”

“It does, although I can’t say I appreciate the mocking tone. Hydration is important! You heard Mona!” Akira huffs.

“Mmm. Anyway, you do remember it’s only my nineteenth, right? This isn’t even legal for another year. Two for you, even.”

Akira lets out a laugh. “He says, pounding back sake with abandon. But hmm, I suppose you’re right. I know how profoundly you care about upholding the sanctity of the law, after all.”

“Clearly,” Goro hums, bringing the bottle back to his mouth with a deadpan look. 

For a while the two just nurse their beverages of choice and lean against each other, enjoying the company and the stillness of the night. As the alcohol begins to work its magic they opt to lay back down, luxuriating in each other’s arms and combing fingers through hair.

“You know,” Goro’s voice cuts through the quiet after a while. “I never thought I’d do anything to actually celebrate my birthday again. Simple as this may be.”

Akira peers at him from his side, fingers still running lazily through soft brown locks. “You existing is something worth celebrating. Not just today but every day. I’m going to keep reminding you until you believe me, you know.”

“I know,” Goro smiles tiredly at the sky. After a pause, he continues. “Then again, I never thought I’d see another birthday, period.”

Akira shifts closer, saying nothing.

“...I was hoping I wouldn’t have to. I was really… _really_ hoping,” he grits out. How can he help it? He can’t think about his birthday without brooding, without his mind turning to the past, without dwelling on all the dark desires shoved into a cracked little box deep inside of himself for as long as he can remember. But, well… perhaps now the resolution at the end of that particular train of thought wasn’t quite so damning, quite so absolute and inevitable. If only a little.

Goro turns his head to the side, shooting Akira a sidelong glance from the corner of his eye. “...But _someone_ had to go and ruin my plans.” Finally, a wry little smile cracks across his face in spite of himself. A silent reassurance that maybe he wasn’t _quite_ so angry and bitter about it anymore. It’s a process, sure, but… that counts for something, right?

“Well,” Akira answers at last. “I for one think it’s the best thing I ever ruined.”

“Of course you do,” Goro huffs out a laugh and sighs, shifting onto his side now to look at him more fully. Akira follows suit and for a moment they just gaze at each other, hands intertwined, thumbs running over palms in soothing circles. 

None of this is new information. It’s been screamed and cried and sighed between them about a hundred times before. But considering the relative peace with which they can talk about it in this moment... they’ve come a long way.

“Goro,” Akira says, almost too quiet to hear. 

“Mmm.”

“I’m… really, really glad you’re here. _Really_. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but… I’ll never be able to convey just how grateful I am that you were born. How lucky I am.”

Goro swallows. He wants to look away, to collect himself as he feels something catch in his throat, but… all he can do is stare transfixed into those big gray eyes, beautiful and honest and unobscured by useless glass. He believes him. Maybe he’s not to the point of agreeing whole-heartedly, but… he believes him.

There’s nothing he can think to say in response, so he simply leans in and rests his forehead against the other’s for a moment before pressing their lips together firmly. If he can’t speak his feelings, well... he’ll put everything he’s got into showing them. 

Immediately Akira’s hands come up to cup his face and he tangles their legs together where they lay on the blanket, the stars their only witness. There is at once an urgency and a languid calm to the kiss, an _I need you to know what I mean, desperately, right this instant_ and a _we’ve got all the time in the world and I’m so glad to be able to spend it with you, however the hell we want._

Eventually the two break apart, heads swimming from more than just the alcohol. Even then they refuse to untangle their limbs or look away, unable to get close enough. Goro never wants to stop, never wants to leave, just wants to lay under the stars in each other’s arms forever... He hates how _sentimental_ he feels around Akira, but, well. For now he’ll just blame it on the sake.

“Happy birthday, Goro.” 

“...Thank you, Akira. Truly.”

**Author's Note:**

> well. time to crawl back into my little hole and not write for another 2-3 years (KIDDING, hopefully, but)
> 
> anyway this is a bit rough and hastily thrown together but hey! I am trying to tell myself that it's okay for shit not to be Amazing when you're extremely out of practice and just wanna try dipping your toes back in... and if I don't post now I will chicken out forever LMAO
> 
> hope u enjoyed and feel free to leave a comment if u feel so inclined! thanks a ton for reading <3


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